Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2013: An MoU for ragpickers too at this summit

AHMEDABAD: The congregation of India Inc captains pledging multi-billion-dollar investments in Gujarat will be joined by ragpickers who will commit a modest Rs 75 crore during the business summit starting Friday.

Some 450 ragpickers have enrolled as suppliers to NEPRA Resource Management, a city-based recycling start up founded by Sandeep Patel along with his three friends. NEPRA will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gujarat Urban Development Corporation ( GUDC) at Vibrant Gujarat 2013 Global Investors' Summit to augment its solid waste segregation facility. The company plans to enroll 10,000 ragpickers in one year, add more collection centres and increase its pick-up facility.

NEPRA-trained ragpickers have worked at Tata Motors' Sanand plant and L&T's solar power plants at Dhama village in Gujarat. They collect waste from these projects and send it to the authorised recycling units. Dry waste is also collected from hotels and offices.

The model enables a five-member ragpicker family to earn a decent Rs 9,000 per month as against a measly Rs 50 per day managed by thousands like them working in an unorganised form. "Training brings a feeling of pride and social acceptance among ragpickers. Earlier, even our friends would laugh at us when we started waste management business," said Patel.

His company clocked a turnover of Rs 40 lakh last year and expects to close the next fiscal 2013-14 with Rs 12 crore turnover.

For Mittu Nath, a migrant ragpicker and father of eight children, a steady income has helped him to get rid of moneylenders. In Ahmedabad, more than 50,000 ragpickers slog daily to unload garbage at local collectors. According to Gaurang Jani, a professor at department of sociology, Gujarat University, there is a need to take holistic approach to improve the lot of ragpickers. "Nearly, 80% of them come from the lower strata of the society and need to be given primary education, hygiene, and training in handling waste," he says.

Biplab Paul, who works with NEPRA as Chief, Bottom of Pyramid, says nearly 4 million tonne of waste that would be dumped at the land filling sites has now been diverted to recycling depots in Ahmedabad. As per UK Trade & Investment 2012 report, India's solid waste is estimated at 188,500 tonne per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste. This will increase to 260 million tonne by 2047.